Between Nov. 24, 2025, and Dec. 5, 2025, Alberta RCMP conducted operations focussing on priority offenders, specifically those who are known or suspected to be involved in crime against oil, electricity and critical infrastructures sites.

Multiple RCMP assets were involved in this operation, including, but not limited to, the Crime Reduction Units (CRU) of all four Alberta RCMP Districts, Alberta RCMP Community Response Team (CRT), RCMP Air Services, Alberta RCMP Police Dog Services (PDS) and Alberta RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT), as well as multiple detachments.

This operation saw the arrest of 14 priority offenders, with over 40 new criminal charges laid, the execution of over a half dozen arrest warrants and the recovery of 6 stolen vehicles.

The Alberta RCMP ranks approximately 85,000 unique offenders in Alberta based on the harm they cause in individual communities. To determine the harm caused by these individuals, the Alberta RCMP Strategic Analysis and Research Unit developed a matrix to determine which offenders were causing the most harm in Alberta. This determination is done using the Uniform Crime Severity Index, something that is typically used to rank communities, and applying it to individual offenders. 

The following are several files of note that took place as a result of this blitz:

• On Nov. 26, 2025, a priority offender was followed in the Lethbridge area and observed stealing lumber. An arrest was attempted but the suspect fled. RCMP Air services came in to assist, following the suspect to an associate’s residence, where he was subsequently arrested. The male is ranked #127 in the province. As a result of the investigation, Adam Filipcic (36), a resident of Claresholm, Alta., was charged with:

  • Theft under $5,000;

  • Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle;

  • Flight from police;

  • Drive while prohibited;

  • Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose; and

  • Failure to comply with court orders (x2).

Filipcic was brought before a justice of the peace and remanded into custody.

• On Nov. 27, 2025, a priority offender from the Edson area, who was wanted on a warrant for 3 counts of failing to comply with a probation order, was followed and arrested for his outstanding warrants as well as breaching several of his probation conditions. As a result of the investigation, Tyler Van Nes (46), a resident of Edson, Alta., was charged with two counts of failing to comply with court orders. Van Nes was brought before a justice of the peace and remanded into custody.

• On Nov. 27, 2025, a priority offender and known copper thief, who was wanted on several warrants, was located in the Edson area. As a result of the investigation, Kyle Schellenberger (36), a resident of Edson, was arrested on three warrants related to possession of stolen property over $5,000, assault and failing to comply with release orders. Schellenberger was brought before a justice of the peace and released on conditions. He is ranked #949.

• On Nov. 28, 2025, Drayton Valley RCMP and Alberta RCMP CRT, with assistance from RCMP Air Services, were able to recover two stolen vehicles and arrest 2 suspects. The vehicle had been left running with the keys inside while parked outside a business in Drayton Valley and the suspect got into the vehicle and drove off. It was located near another stolen vehicle, resulting in the recovery of both. As a result of the investigation, a 23-year-old resident of Sunchild First Nations, Alta, was arrested and charges are pending for theft of motor vehicle. He is currently ranked #327 in the province.

• On Nov. 29, 2025, while checking the residence of a priority offender, two stolen vehicles were located leaving a priority offender’s residence in Parkland County, Alta., driving in tandem. Parkland RCMP, Wetaskiwin RCMP, CAD CRU and Alberta RCMP CRT, intercepted the vehicles. Assisted by RCMP Air Services and Alberta RCMP Real Time Operation Center (RTOC), they were able to coordinate the successful apprehension of one offender, after he rammed a police vehicle, and the successful deployment of a tire deflation device on the second. Both suspects were arrested and are known partners and repeat offender. Without assistance from these various units, it is unlikely that both would have been caught that day. The first arrested male, and the youngest, is ranked #27 in the province and the other is ranked #2816. As a result of the investigation, the following two were arrested:

  • Christopher Stebbings (18), a resident of Spring Lake, Alta., who had been recently released from custody, was charged with:

    • Flight from police;

    • Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle;

    • Possession of property obtained by crime over $5000;

    • Assaulting a police officer; and

    • Fail to stop after an accident.

  • Aaron Robertson (33), of no fixed address, who also had an arrest warrant out of Tofield, Alta., for extortion with a weapon, was charged with:

    • Flight from police;

    • Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle;

    • Possession of property obtained by crime over $5000;

    • Driving while prohibited; and

    • Resisting arrest.

Stebbings and Robertson were brought before a justice of the peace and remanded into custody.

• On Dec. 2, 2025. Western Alberta District (WAD) CRU was patrolling rural Mayerthorpe when they located a priority offender driving a stolen vehicle. They followed the vehicle and, when it stopped for gas, they approached the driver, who attempted to flee in another vehicle, but was apprehended before he could. As a result, Allan Brick (60), a resident of Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, Alta., was charged with:

  • Flight from police;

  • Possession of stolen property;

  • Driving while unauthorized; and

  • Failing to comply with release conditions.

Brick was brought before a justice of the peace and eventually released on conditions.

• On Dec. 4, 2025, EAD CRU was working in Sedgewick, Alta., and checking the addresses of priority offenders when they located a male wanted on a warrant. Eugene Galang (29), a resident of Sedgewick, was arrested for failing to comply with release order. Galang was brought before a justice of the peace and remanded into custody.

• On Dec. 5, 2025, WAD CRU observed a priority offender, in Yellowhead County, in a stolen vehicle. A traffic stop was attempted but the male fled from police. The vehicle and driver were later located at a residence where the driver had entered illegally. As a result, Matthew David Harris (43), a resident of Edson, was charged with:

  • Possession of stolen property over $5000;

  • Possession of stolen property under $5000;

  • Flight from police;

  • Fraudulent concealment;

  • Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle;

  • Drive while unauthorized; and

  • Being unlawfully in a dwelling house.

Harris was brought before a justice of the peace and remanded into custody.

“These operations are very important to the safety of Albertans as they allow for the use of varied specialized units to target prolific and priority offenders and thus being proactive in our policing approach” said S/Sgt. Luke Halvorson, Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge of Community Safety. “We observed that though offenders nomadic and travel across Alberta to find local partners to continue to proliferate their crimes. Thanks to the resources available to the Alberta RCMP, we are able to efficiently coordinate investigations such as these and make sure that, no matter where a criminal commits their crimes, we will be there to catch them”.